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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-10-2004 Airport Commission Meeting Minutes MINUTES IOWA CITY AIRPORT COMMISSION THURSDAY,JUNE 10,2004—5:45 P.M. IOWA CITY AIRPORT TERMINAL CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Hartwig called the meeting to order at 5:47 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT:Randy Hartwig,John Krstenansky,Daniel Clay, Carl Williams MEMBERS ABSENT: John Staley STAFF PRESENT: Sue Dulek,Ron O'Neil OTHERS PRESENT: Kim Brogan, Scott Byers,David Hughes,Dave Larson RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL:None APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of the May 13,2004, Commission meeting were approved as submitted with one minor correction. REVIEW OF EXPENDITURES: O'Neil reviewed the check requests for June with the Commission. PUBLIC DISCUSSION—ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA: No items were presented. UNFINISHED ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/ACTION: No items were presented. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/ACTION: a. Brogan United building lease—amendment: O'Neil said Kim Brogan had requested her lease for the office area for the United hangar be amended. Possession was to be May 1 and rent to begin June I. Because of several factors, Brogan requested a June 1 possession date with rent to begin July I. The ending date of the lease would not be changed. A motion was made by Clay for a resolution to amend the lease. Williams seconded the motion, and at roll call vote,the motion passed 4—0,with Staley being absent. b. Jet Air lease—United hangar: O'Neil said he had received word today from Jet Air that they would not want to lease the hangar. They had no objection to the price of$ 500 per month, but their space needs have changed and they did not need the hangar at this time. 1 Kim Brogan asked to address the Commission. She said she had intended to sublease half the hangar from Jet Air for$250.00 per month. Since they were not going to lease the hangar, she would like to rent the hangar. She offered the Commission$200 for the whole hangar or$100 for half the hangar. She said the difference in price between her offer and Jet Air's offer was that her sublease price to Jet Air was going to include some repairs. She said Jet Air would have an option to lease half the hangar if they changed their mind in the next 30 days. Clay asked if this was something Brogan needed resolved before the next Commission meeting? She said she would be ready to move into the office in the next two to two and a half weeks and she would like to then work on the hangar. She said there are 15 to 20 people that have joined the flying club. Brogan said she would need a wall down the center if she only rented half the hangar. She would sublease the rest of the hangar for an aviation use if the Commission rented her the whole hangar. Hartwig said this would be on the agenda for the next meeting. He said O'Neil could lease it to her for the month of July if terms can be agreed to. Clay said that O'Neil should take care of it until the next meeting. Clay said that the immediate issue is having the 50 feet cleared. O'Neil said he could resolve many of the issues before the next Commission meeting. c. Obstruction mitigation project- O'Neil circulated a letter and bid tabulation for bids for some obstruction lighting. There was a base bid and an alternate. The bids were for lighting on two Airport buildings and lighting on St.Mary's church. Stanley is waiting to hear back from the church. Williams made a motion for a resolution to accept the bid from Gerard Electric. Krstenansky seconded the motion and at roll call vote,the motion passed 4—0, with Staley being absent. O'Neil said the next bid would be for tree removal. He said the grant would not pay to remove all of the obstructions listed by the DOT. An additional grant or grants will be needed to complete the project. d. Aviation Commerce Park(ACP)— Scott Byers was present to represent Iowa Realty. He said there were discussions with potential customers for four lots. He said this doesn't guarantee any sales,but there is significant interest in the property. Harry Wolf has taken a lead role in marketing the property. Wolf has met with O'Neil and the City Manager to discuss strategies to market the property and what the Commission and Council expect for the development. Krstenansky asked what types of businesses were interested? Byers said the uses are quite varied. O'Neil said the companies that are looking are serious about buying some property. Byers said he agreed and that they are businesses that will be buying something in the Iowa City area soon. O'Neil said the north part of lot 5 has been leased by the Iowa City School System for the last several years. They use it for storage for their maintenance shop. Their annual lease expires in July. O'Neil said he would recommend not renewing the lease or have a 30-day out in the lease in case the lot sells. The property could be leased on a month to month basis. Or the lot could be subdivided and that portion sold to the Schools. 2 Williams asked about timing. He said Iowa Realty has a relatively short sales agreement. Byers said even if the Commission would not renew the agreement, it would not jeopardize the sale. He said they would continue to work with the buyer until the sale is concluded. Clay asked how the Commission is involved if there is an offer? O'Neil said when an offer is made to Iowa Realty,he meets with Iowa Realty and Steve Atkins and discusses the offer. The offer may be rejected if it is not legitimate or a counter offer may be made. When there is an acceptable offer, it will be presented to the Commission for a recommendation to the Council. This could be a negative or positive recommendation. The Council will make the final sales decision. Clay asked about what the timing of an offer if someone was in a hurry to purchase? O'Neil said he thought the flexibility for the Commission to meet was as good or better than a special Council meeting. He said there needs to be 24 hours notice unless it is an emergency. O'Neil said he discussed this with the City Manager. Atkins said it is probable the Council would call a special meeting if there were a sale pending. They want to make this project work as much as the Commission does. Clay said he had a question about paying for the infrastructure? He wanted to know if all the sale money was to go to the general fund until the infrastructure is paid for? O'Neil said that was the agreement,but depending on the circumstances,the Council may be flexible on that. e. Runway 07 project—O'Neil said he could combine the information in agenda items e.and f. He said that until the Environmental Assessment is completed,they can not move forward with the contract with Earth Tech. The public meeting was conducted for the EA on May 20th. There were only minor comments. The comments were sent to the FAA to be incorporated into the report. Green is waiting for a response from one more agency before the FAA can issue the final findings for the report. Mark Schenkelberg,the FAA Compliance Officer, said if there were no comments to address,he should have the report completed in July. O'Neil said he hoped it would work out to have the final report by July 15'h so the Commission could act on Earth Tech contract at their July meeting. Dave Larson presented information in response to questions raised by the Commission at the June meeting. The questions concerned a project west of the Airport on property Larson is developing. He had requested a recommendation from the Commission concerning a permanent easement on Airport property for an outlet pipe for a water detention area. Larson was working with MMS Consultants on the engineering questions. O'Neil said one of the questions was what impact the water detention area would have on the Environmental Assessment just completed? MMS said they didn't think it would have any impact. O'Neil said he would be much more comfortable if that conclusion came from H.R. Green, since they were the company that conducted the EA. Larson said MMS reviewed it and thought there were no issues. Krstenansky said the only thing that he did not see addressed was if the detention area would create additional attraction for wildlife,particularly waterfowl. Krstenansky said someone needs to look at it and approve the plan. 3 O'Neil said the Council might be counting on the Commission to make certain that there are no adverse aviation effects before approving an easement. O'Neil said that from reviewing Larson's plan,he does not think installing the pipe for the detention area would hold up the runway project. What will not be known for certain until the runway design is done and approved is whether this development downstream will raise the cost of the runway project. O'Neil said that if the Commission wants to send a recommendation to the Council,they should make sure the Council knows that the Commission has not done any hydraulic research. Clay asked how much Green would charge to review the Larson's plan? O'Neil said he would check with Green for a price. Dave Hughes,from Earth Tech,said he would be interested in knowing what impact the dike for the detention pond would have on the flood plain. Larson said MMS said there would be no impact. O'Neil said he is being cautious about the EA because it has taken over a year to complete. Clay said to ask Green how much they would charge to review the plan. O'Neil said the Council only meets once in July. It is before the Commission July meeting. The recommendation would have to go to the City Manager's office by June 30 to be on the July 6 Council meeting. Clay said he would recommend O'Neil contact Green to get a cost proposal for reviewing Larson's plan so the Commission can make a recommendation to the Council. Krstenansky said if a review by Green is not possible,the Commission needs to look at other options for making a decision. O'Neil said he would contact Public Works to get their opinion. O'Neil said he would contact Green tomorrow and get a cost estimate for the EA review. Clay said he hoped Green could accommodate Larson. f. Environmental Assessment project—O'Neil said there was nothing additional to add to the EA discussion that was not discussed with the runway project. g. Strategic Plan—O'Neil said one of the issues the Commission may want to discuss is the Council/Commission meeting on June 14t. He said it was somewhat short notice,but the agenda was not confirmed until the staff meeting yesterday. Krstenansky said he would be out of town on Monday. Hartwig asked what the topic of discussion would be? O'Neil said he thought it would be what was happening with the strategic plan. O'Neil said he asked Atkins what to have prepared for the meeting and he said Atkins said the Mayor called the meeting and he was not sure of the specific topic,other than maybe governance. O'Neil provided the Commission with a magazine article that described a commercial service airport's project to develop a strategic plan. He said the tone of the article was that this was leading edge thinking and that not many commercial or general aviation airports have strategic plans. O'Neil said he would be surprised if any general aviation airports in Iowa have a strategic plan. He said when the Commission completes their plan,he would suspect other airports will want to use it as a model. Krstenansky said he has developed an outline for the Commission to start with. He circulated a copy to the other Commission members. He said this would help as a guideline for the focus groups. O'Neil suggested the Commission put a timeline together and also decide how they wanted to categorize the focus groups. 4 The Commission discussed what focus groups they wanted and how to divide up the groups. Clay said he liked the idea of having several smaller groups instead of one or two large groups. Clay said there should be a summary for the meeting with the Council on Monday. O'Neil said that corporations base their aircraft at their home base. If the Iowa City Airport attracts additional corporate aircraft,that probably means there is a corresponding increase in business locating in the Iowa City area. Clay said the FRO told him that local businesses seem to be increasing their use of charter aircraft. O'Neil said that the dates for the focus groups would have to be coordinated with Jeff Davidson,who is the facilitator. The facilitator will be very important in the initial phases of gathering the information that the Commission will base their plan on. Krstenansky explained how the Commission could use a group of students from the College of Business to assist the Commission with the Strategic Plan. An application should be made sometime in July. Clay said he would work with O'Neil to fill out the application. h. National Guard lease- The Guard leases approximately half an acre of Airport property for vehicle storage. The lease expires in August. O'Neil said the Guard is going to build a new facility,but will probably need another three year lease to get them to when their new building is completed. Williams asked if they were paying fair market value? O'Neil said they are paying what is being paid for other undeveloped Airport property. Some airports do not charge the Guard or reserve for airport property. O'Neil said he would develop a lease and have it as an item on the July agenda. Because it is for more than two years,a public hearing is required. O'Neil suggested the Commission set a public hearing for the July meeting. Williams made a motion for a resolution to set a public hearing for the National Guard lease. Krstenansky seconded the motion and the motion passed 4—0,with Staley being absent. i. Airport Park area—Hartwig said he has been contacted by people that would like a picnic area at the Airport where they could eat their lunch and watch the aircraft. Ron Duffe, from Jet Air,said he would donate a picnic table. O'Neil said there is an area at the north end of the north parking area that would be suitable for a small picnic area. O'Neil said Mayor Lehman has mentioned he would like to see a small park area at the Airport. O'Neil said he could apply for security fencing for the area through the Iowa Department of Transportation. He said he would need a resolution supporting the project. Krstenansky said if the area is to be expanded, it would need to be moved away from the heavy traffic area. Krstenansky said that when he and Staley met with Jeff Davidson,there was some discussion about recreational areas around the Airport. Williams made a motion to apply to the Department of Transportation for a grant to replace the fencing around the north parking lot. Krstenansky seconded the motion,and at roll call vote,the motion passed 4—0,with Staley being absent. The Commission discussed where the best place would be for a picnic area and how it could be constructed if they did not receive an IDOT grant. O'Neil said the Commission would know sometime in August if they were successful in receiving a fencing grant. 5 CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT: Hartwig said he wanted to acknowledge the positive article in the Press Citizen about the Airport. He also suggested having a clean-up day at the Airport. Hartwig said he mentioned to someone in the Iowa Athletic Department that the posters in the Terminal lobby were outdated. He said current posters would be sent to the Airport. COMMISSION MEMBERS'REPORTS: Clay said he wanted to comment on the positive way things were moving forward with the Strategic Planning and marketing and wanted to relay that to the Council when they meet on Monday,the 14th. Williams said he was going to the FAA ALP conference in Kansas City. O'Neil said three Commission members are registered for the first day of the conference. Hartwig said he would be flying down. Krstenansky said he would like to go with Hartwig. O'Neil said it is a very good opportunity to meet with other airport commission members and managers and with FAA and IDOT officials. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT: O'Neil said that there was a nice article on the 757 simulator that is located at the Airport The Council/Commission meeting is schedule for June 14 at 6:30 p.m. at the Council Chambers. There was information in the packet about the new flight school and flying club. O'Neil said there would be a fee accessed to the Airport from Public Works for storm water management. O'Neil said he hopes that means that Public Works will maintain the on-airport storm water drainage system. He will inform the Commission as he learns more about the program. The Iowa City Schools System has been informed that their lease will not be renewed on Lot#5 in the Aviation Commerce Park. The property will be leased to them on a month to month basis. SET NEXT MEETING: The next regular Airport Commission meeting is scheduled for July 15,2004,at 5:45 p.m. ADJOURNMENT: e meeting was adjourned at 7:45 p.m. Randy rtwig, Chairperso 6